Recipe: Polenta Fries (Step by Step with Pics)

We have a thing with burger nights at our place- we love 'em. Usually, it will be one of those situations of... "What do you want to do for dinner tonight? " "I don't know, what do you want?" "Burger night?" "Sounds perfect." I have the menu down to a science, and it's all super easy but does require a bit of lengthy prep with all the washing, chopping and mixing of ingredients.

What really stands out about our burger night (besides the meat) are the "french fries" I make. As you can guess, I'm not really a traditional french fry kinda gal, but french fries with a healthy spin? I'm in!

I'll cover the rest of our burger night ingredients in another post eventually, but for now, let's talk about the fries. Now don't be a hater -- I get that these may not be the most nutrient-dense things in the world, nor are they any kind of super food, but we all need a little something something that just satisfies those cravings for a salty and semi-crunchy food, right?

Polenta Fries

Directions:
Start with your pre-cooked polenta tube. I get the kind that's pictured below; note: it is organic. The one you see there is the "original" kind that you can get at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc. I normally don't get original; I usually get basil garlic or one of their other flavors for a reason. I prefer basil garlic or other varieties of this brand because they have a slightly more solid consistency and are easier to cut into fries. The original is more delicate and falls apart if you're not careful when cutting.

The foundation.

So here we go: Get a sharp knife, and a damp paper towel or dish towel. Cut the polenta into thirds. I do this with the wrapper still on, and then I just peel it off.

First step: cut into thirds.

Next, sit those chunks upright and cut into long slices. This is key to prevent breakage: After every 1-3 chops, wipe off your knife with the wet cloth. The build-up of polenta residue on the knife will cause your slices to crumble apart when cutting. Clean knife = clean cut.

Slicing.

After you've sliced lengthwise, then turn the polenta and slice the opposite way so you get nice little cuts the size of french fries. Note how you can see some polenta crumbling off on the cutting board below? Sometimes I'll lay the flat slices out and chop up one at a time instead of all together, which seems to keep them stable.

Perfect french fry size.

After that, line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with olive oil spray -- don't overdo it on olive oil otherwise they'll be too mushy; but you need enough to prevent sticking. Then add all your fries to the cookie sheet and lightly spray again with olive oil. Pictured below is 1 1/4 tubes of polenta. For two people, I recommend one tube; anymore than two people get at least two tubes because the fries shrink.

1 1/4 tubes of polenta ready to go in the oven.

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until they feel a bit crunchy on the outside and still soft in the middle. Then crank up oven to broil (high) and cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until they are browned and even more crispy. Don't broil for too long -- they'll burn!

As you can see below, they do shrink quite a bit in the cooking process. When they're done they should be pretty crispy on the outside and only slightly soft in the middle. If they still feel mushy to the touch, cook longer. You want that crispy outer layer.

The finished product. Yum!

That's it! Polenta fries have been a hit whenever I've served them. They're great with dipping sauces (from ketchup to hummus) or on their own. And most of all they are a great substitute for french fries with fewer calories, no deep frying and still lots of great flavor. Gluten free, too. Check out the nutrition label of the brand I get (basil garlic variety):

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And since I was talking about burger night... below are a few things that always accompany the fries. (NOTE: Not pictured are organic beefsteak tomatoes marinated in balsamic, creamy goat cheese to spread on the burgers, arugula, pears that get added to the caramelized onions, Dijon mustard, and even buns for those carb-lovers.) Got your mouth watering? Mine is...

Oven-roasted asparagus. Add olive oil, lemon, s&p.
Simple and delicious.

Sweet onions about to be caramelized;
eventually sliced pears are added to mix.

Organic, grass-fed beef. The only kind I'll get.

Recipe: GF Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce

Friday night I wanted a good home-cooked meal, but I was not in the mood to spend a lot of time going crazy in the kitchen, and I wanted to use what we had on hand rather than making another trip to the store -- I grocery shop enough as it is. I'm sure you can relate.

Sometimes my meals just sort of happen (like that delicious beet dish), and actually turn out better than expected. This was one of those cases. I know the recipe I'm about to share is nothing extremely unique, but, heck, it's easy, tasty and healthy so I'm puttin it out there!

Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce (gluten-free)

Up close. It's hearty.

Easy, healthy one-dish meal; very few ingredients.

Ingredients:*
1 spaghetti squash (if you have a large one you'll only need half of it)
1.25-1.5 lbs ground turkey ("regular fat" content; not the super lean kind. Too lean = dry)
25 oz (1 jar) marinara sauce of choice (I used Vons Organics Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce; I actually like the ingredients in this line more than the Whole Food's brand; less sugar.)
5 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic or 2 cubes frozen garlic (I use the frozen cubes from Trader Joe's)
1-2 tbsp basil or 2 cubes frozen basil cubes (again, TJ's)
1 tbsp oregano
red pepper flakes, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste

*As always, use organic whenever possible.

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and when it's ready stick your spaghetti squash in there on a cookie sheet for 1.5 hours (again, this is for a bigger squash; smaller ones may require less time).

Note on SS preparation: I used to cut my squash in half, scoop out the seeds and lay face down on cookie sheet in a bit of water and then bake, but I don't bother with that anymore. I've found it turns out just as good to throw the whole thing in there until it's done, and then cut open, remove seeds, etc. Of course, wash it first.

After squash has been in over for a while, start prepping other ingredients. Heat large pan on stove top with 1 tbsp EVOO. Chop green onions and add to the pan. Cook on medium heat. A couple minutes later, add more EVOO and the ground turkey, 1 cube garlic, 1 cube basil and a bit of salt and pepper. Spoon the turkey around constantly and let it break apart into small bits as if you're making taco meat; this requires constant stirring. When turkey is halfway done, add about 1/3 jar of marinara. Mix and let sauce soak into turkey well, then add another portion of sauce.

Meanwhile, when spaghetti squash is done, cut it in half, let it cool a bit and remove seeds. Then fork out the squash strands into a bowl. This is always my least favorite part - so dang hot; fingers burning! 

Seeds removed; time to fork it

Add half or all of your squash to the meat mixture. You want it to be a fairly even ratio of squash to meat sauce; not too soupy with sauce, not too squashy/dry with spaghetti squash. Add the rest of the marinara sauce, another cube of garlic and basil, red pepper flakes, and more S&P if desired and let all that simmer on a low heat until the sauce is well absorbed. It should have a hearty consistency when done. Again- not soupy, and not dry.

Adding spaghetti squash to the meat mixture.

Mixing squash, meat, more sauce.

And after a bit of time letting all the flavors and ingredients blend together, you have yourself a meal!

The finished product.

Hearty consistency. Men will like. 

Sauteing jalapenos in evoo.

Serve with a veggie of choice. I served with steamed broccoli (again, something that's easy to make), and some pan sauteed jalapenos for a kick (I randomly got the jalapenos at the farmer's market and they turned out to be quite tasty and not too spicy if you cook them long enough in olive oil and add sea salt; I cooked them for a good 30-40min).





This dish was even better the second day as leftovers. Too bad John was out of town and didn't get any ;) But I certainly enjoyed it after tough workouts of swimming and kayaking.

Healthy Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

I was craving enchiladas, which is funny because it's normally not something I eat. Specifically, I wanted shrimp enchiladas with verde sauce instead of red sauce, and surprisingly when I did a google search (including the word "healthy" of course) no recipes with those specifications came up. But enchiladas are relatively easy to make, so I gathered up info from various recipes (one in particular, but now I can't find it haha), and created my own healthy version:

Healthy Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

*Note: I used all organic ingredients (except sauce I think), which I highly recommend!

1 lb raw medium shrimp, peeled/deveined

1 large red bell pepper

1 large zucchini

4 large green onions (the ones with big bulbs)

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1 lime

~1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

~1/2 bunch fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

salt & pepper (eyeballed)

10 corn tortillas -- splurge on quality/non-GMO/organic for best results

16 oz. green enchilada sauce, here's what I used: Frontera's

olive oil

optional: roasted pasilla chiles, avocado

Directions:

*Scroll down for pic-by-pic process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep a 11 x 7 Pyrex/baking dish with a light amount of olive oil.

Chop all your veggies and shrimp (each shrimp = 3 pieces). Heat pan with olive oil and saute red bell pepper and all the white parts of the onions and only ~1/2 of the green stems. After a minute, add the chopped zucchini. Saute for 4-5 minutes total then add shrimp and juice of 1 lime and saute for another minute only. Remove from heat and add Greek yogurt, seasonings and most of the cilantro (make sure it's coarsely chopped). Let all that sit for ~5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat another pan with or without a bit of olive oil and heat your tortillas. Pre-heating tortillas prevents them from breaking apart, but if you have quality corn tortillas (i.e. organic, non-GMO which should be a given) then they probably won't break apart anyways.

The next part works best if you have two people: spoon some of the shrimp/veggie mix onto each tortilla, wrap each tortilla and place them seam down on the baking dish. You should be able to fit ~10 tortillas total, and you might have leftover shrimp mix which I saved for another day :)

Once tortillas are all stuffed and in the baking dish then pour on the green enchilada sauce, spread the cheese on (use as little or as much as you want here), and top with the remainder of the chopped greens of the green onions.

Bake in oven for 25 minutes at 350.

Serve with extra fresh cilantro, avocado/guacamole and even a roasted pasilla chile for a little more spice!

Some notes:

*I was going to make homemade corn tortillas but ran out of time so I bought some from Whole Foods. I am not a fan of corn or corn products, but occasionally I like corn tortillas or tortilla chips and I will always look for an organic/non-GMO brand because anything else quite frankly scares me. I also read that the crappier the tortilla is in terms of the corn used, the more likely it is to break apart, which makes sense why so many corn tortillas always break because they're probably from cheap GMO corn. Yuck.

*Be careful with the enchilada sauce you choose. For one, try to avoid canned kinds. There are health risks associated with tomatoes sitting in cans, not to mention you're more likely to have crap ingredients in canned products (i.e. high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, gluten, preservatives). I would have like to have made my own, but no time. Frontera's was delicious and a very decent ingredient list! Only 10 calories for 2 Tbsp too!

*I bought some pasilla chiles at the farmer's market and wanted to put them in the mix, but I had never had them plain and wanted to get a taste for them on their own, so I served them on the side. Next time I'll definitely put them IN the enchiladas because they have a great, no too intense spice that was delicious. I covered mine in olive oil and roasted them in the oven for ~20 on low heat.

*These make excellent leftovers!

Pictures of the enchiladas in the making:

Best Homemade Hummus Recipe Ever

I don't know why I didn't start making my own hummus sooner. I can make five times as much for a fraction of the price of what you'd pay in stores. Plus I don't get any weird additives/preservatives that are icky. It's a no brainer.

This hummus recipe is one I found in a [health] magazine during the holidays and we've been loving it ever since. I slightly modified it based on the ingredients I have (namely more almond butter, less tahini). I'm a pumpkin addict, and I love hummus so this is a match made in heaven.

You have to try it. You're seriously missing out if you don't.

Pumpkin Orange Hummus with Cranberries

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (organic preferably)

1 15 oz. can organic pureed pumpkin

1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice

2 tsp fresh orange zest

1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs. tahini (or one of those individual packets, which is what I used)

1.5 Tbs. almond butter (2 T. is ok too)*

1 Tbs. seasame seeds*

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 c dried cranberries OR 1 tsp sweetener of choice

Directions: Put all ingredients in a food processor EXCEPT cranberries (important). It's best to throw in garbanzo beans and pumpkin first then add the rest. Blend until smooth, scraping sides of food processor periodically. Then gently fold in cranberries and serve or just eat it straight up ;)

*You can use 3 Tbs. of tahini and no almond butter/sesame seeds as well (what the original recipe called for). I didn't have a jar of tahini so got creative with what I had.

Note: I noticed it really starts to taste the best the second or third day once the juices of the cranberries have soaked into the hummus. This most recent time, I omitted cranberries and tried a bit of sweetener and it's very delicious that way too--with a little less sugar.

PS - I'd love to give the magazine credit for the recipe, but I cut it out and don't know. So guess it's my creation now?! ;)

Do you have any awesome hummus recipes to share?

Spaghetti Squash & Shrimp Saute

As offseason goes, we normally tend to indulge in all those things that, for the most part, we stayed away from during intense training. I know I've loosened up with my diet, sleep habits, social calendar... and the list goes on. It's healthy to let loose a little and enjoy new things. Heck, I've even replaced most my swimming with surfing!

Anyways, while it's good to indulge, it's still important to keep up with healthy, wholesome eating. So today I wanted to share a yummy dinner recipe that won't leave you feeling weighed down after you eat it, and is a healthy balance of protein, fat and carbs. The recipe is based off a pasta dish I found on Eating Well. I made it into a gluten-free, grain-free dish that is boyfriend approved (and he's a tough critic, being that he isn't gluten free and eats everything under the sun lol. He really seems to like my healthy cooking though, yay).

Spaghetti Squash & Shrimp Saute

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
  
• 12 ounces or one frozen bag of shrimp
  
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and sliced
• 1 large red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup mushroom soup (I sort of eyeballed this to be honest)
  
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• dash of red pepper flakes (optional) -- we like spicy!!
  
• extra-virgin olive oil / spray evoo

Directions:

Preheat over to 350. Cut spaghetti squash in half and spoon out the seeds. Place each half, flesh down, on a baking sheet and fill with a layer of water. Put in oven for about 60 minutes or until you can easily stick a fork through it (will depend on size of squash, oven, etc).

In a large skillet, saute shrimp, bell pepper and peas with EVOO and 1/2 the little lemon juice. For asparagus, I quickly steamed mine before adding it to the skillet with the other stuff, but you can add it in with the veggies if you want it more crispy.

In a separate bowl, mix yogurt, mushroom soup, rest of the lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley and any other seasonings you'd like. Add the yogurt mix to the shrimp/veggie mix, and mix well. ***Note on greek yogurt: the amount you use will vary depending on how much spaghetti squash you have and on how thick you want your cream sauce.

Last but not least, when spaghetti squash is ready, remove flesh with a fork and add most the squash to the skillet with all the shrimp, veggies, etc. You might have extra spaghetti squash, again, it just depends how you want to ratio your ingredients.

Let everything simmer together for another 5-10 minutes before serving.

Sorry I didn't get more pics of the cooking process! Plus, I think the flash on my camera made it look less creamy than it really was. Weird.